Ratchet wrench



June 9, 1953 M. B. MARSDEN, JR, ETAL 2,641,136

RATCHET WRENCH Filed Dec. 3, 1949 INVENTORS 1 r5 den Jr.

Harris E.Ha James HI IEL'E czE-n ATTORNEY.

Patented June 9, 1953 RATCHET WRENCH Morris B. Marsden, Jr., and JamesH. Marsden, Broadview, Ill.

Application December 3, 1949, Serial No. 131,013

3 Claims.

This invention relates in general to socket wrenches but moreparticularly to socket wrenches of the ratchet type and the principalobject of the invention is to design a new and improved ratchet wrenchwhich facilitates the screwing on of nuts or bolts and the like.

Another object of the invention is the production of a new and improvedratchet wrench which will screw on a nut or the like in both directionsof the reciprocating movement of the wrench handle, thereby speeding upthis operation.

A further object resides in the provision of a ratchet wrench which willscrew on a nut or the like by a forward movement or the wrench handle atone speed, and then with a reverse movement of the handle increase thespeed of turning of the nut.

A particular feature resides in the provision of a planetary geararrangement cooperating with a pawl and ratchet mechanism for causing anut turning socket to rotate in a continuous forward rotary direction byreciprocation of the wrench handle.

The foregoing objects and features together with others including thearrangement, construction and operation of the various parts andelements which will hereinafter be apparent, are disclosed in theaccompanying drawings which together with the description constitute apreferred embodiment of the invention.

Referring more specifically to the drawings:

Fig. 1 illustrates a cross-sectional side view of the improved ratchetwrench taken along the line I-I of Fig. 2;

Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional top view taken along the line 22 of Fig. 1;while Fig. 3 is a top view of the wrench with the cover plate unscrewed.

The improved ratchet wrench includesv a metal head portion 5 suitablymachined in the round form as shown being hollowed out and having anoperating handle 6 preferably integral therewith extending from the sidethereof and of somewhat substantial construction A secondary orstationary handle I of less substantial construction which may be of thesame length as operating handle 6 extends from the bottom side of headportion 5 but is not attached thereto. Arranged axially within thehollow head portion 5 is a socket supporting member 8 having a squareopening 9 therein for the accommodation of the usual socket 40 or otherattachment for screwing on nuts and the like, as indicated in dottedlines in Fig. 1. The socket supporting member '8: and opening 9 thereinextends the full depth of 2 the head portion 5 so that either side ofthe head portion 5 can be placed over the socket 40' for screwing nutson or on as will be pointed out hereinafter.

Approximately midway of the length of socket member 8 there is aperipheral socket gear It formed integral therewith which is arranged inspaced relation to an outer ring gear II having similar gear teeth I 2on its inner periphery. The outer periphery of ring gear II is providedwith ratchet teeth I3 arranged closely adjacent the inner edge of thehollow head ortion 5 as shown in Fig. 2. A series of four intermediategears It are preferably equally spaced in said head por tion and aremeshed with the gear teeth it and I2 of the socket member 8 and outerring I I respectively. The entire gear set specified constitutes aplanetary gear arrangement and operates as such. Intermediate gears I4are preferably of the same thickness as ring gear I I and are pivotedfor rotary motion upon individual pins or bearings I5. A pair of fiatplates or spacers 20 and 2| are placed on opposite sides of intermediategears I4, i0 and II and are held apart by four sleeves 24 on bearingpins 23 as seen in Fig. 2. These sleeves 24 are arranged between thegears I4 and are slightly longer than the thickness of gears It, II and.I4 so that no appreciable friction will be placed upon the sides ofgears M, It and II to interfere with their rotation. A flat plate 22extending through the bottom opening 35 of the hollow head portion 5supports the bearing pins I 5 as by riveting themthereto, while theupper end of the bearing pins I5 are riveted to top plate 20. Bottomplate 22 is formed integral. with the secondary handle I as shown, andthe head portion 5 is adapted for rotation around the periphery of plate22 in opening 35 as will be pointed out. The flat plate or spacer 2!rests on a bearing ledge 3% formed inside the hollow head portion andthereby holds the assembly in the hollow body 5.

Also arranged within the hollow head portion on top of spacing plate 20is a ratchet wheel 25 having peripheral ratchet teeth 26. This ratchetwheel 25 is of the same diameter as ring gear II and both have slidableengagement withv opposite sides of spacing plate 20. Ratchet wheel 2-?is also keyed as shown at 31 in Fig. 3 directly with socket member 8 andis arranged to effect turning action of the same. A pawl Z9 is normallyurged by spring 30 into engagement with ratchet teeth I3 of ring gear II and is held in place ad.-

J'ustab-ly as by a set screw 31. A similar pawl 32. is urged into normalengagement with ratchet.

teeth 26 of gear 25 and held in place by set screw 34. The pawls 29 and32 enable only oneway rotation of their associates ratchet wheels.

The complete mechanism encased within the hollow portion of the bodyhead is preferably packed with suitable lubricant and the body closedoff by a cover plate 21 having special wrench recesses 28 thereinwhereby the plate may be removably screwed into the top of the headportion.

In describing the operation of the ratchet wrench assume for examplethat the device is to be used for turning a nut onto a bolt. The shankof socket 40 indicated in Fig. 1 is placed within the opening 9 of thesocket turning member 8 in the usual manner and thereby keyed therewithfor turning action of the nut which the socket to is to operate upon.The operator then grasps the movable handle 6 in one hand and thestationary handle I in the other hand, while the handle 6 is manipulatedback and forth in a reciprocating manner to turn the nut on. At the sametime handle 1 is held stationary. Assume now that the first motion ofthe operator is to pull the handle 6 to the left towards stationaryhandle I as shown by the arrow in the handle 6 of Fig. 3. This actioncauses pawl 32 to engage a ratchet tooth 26 and rotate ratchet wheel 25in a clockwise direction as indicated. Since this ratchet wheel 25 isdirectly keyed at 31 to socket supporting member 8, a turning action ofthe socket 40 is effected.

Referring now to Fig. 2, while the left hand or clockwise movement ofhandle 6 is taking place, pawl 29 rides over the ratchet teeth l3 andtherefore no rotation of the ring gear i I can take place. However, thesocket member 8 does effect an axial rotation of all intermediate gearsl4 but because their bearing pins [5 are held stationary by virtue ofthe stationary handle I to which they are attached, the ring gear H isgiven a counter-clockwise rotation and its ratchet teeth I3 slide pastthe pawl 29 at an accelerated rate. The ratio of the turning movement ofhandle 6 to the socket 40 as described, is therefore on the order of oneto one when the handle 6 is moved to the left.

The operator next rotates the handle 6 in the opposite or right handdirection as viewed in Fig. 2 while still holding handle I stationarywith the other hand. This action results in pawl 29 engaging one of theratchet teeth [3 causing a counter-clockwise rotation of ring gear IIand. this in turn rotates all four intermediate gears 14. Since thebearing pins [5 are held stationary by handle 1 gears l4 effect aclockwise rotation of gear ID of the socket supporting member 8, therebyrotating the socket 40 in the same continuous forward clockwisedirection that it was rotated when the handle 6 was moved to the left.During the foregoing action the pawl 32 in Fig. 3 idly rides overratchet teeth 26 without producing any results.

The planetary gear arrangement is such that the diameter of the gearportion l2 of ring gear II is greater than that of the gear l0, and thiscoupled with the diameter of the intermediate gears l4 results in anamplification of movement of the socket member 8 when only a smallmovement of the handle 6 is made. Therefore by a proper selection ofgear ratios and size of gears any desired acceleration or amplificationof turniIlg movement of the socket can take place by the same movementof lever 6. In the arrangement shown for example, a completecounter-clock- 4 wise rotation of lever 6 will result in a rotation ofabout one and two-thirds revolution of socket member 8.

From the foregoing operation it is seen that movement of handle 6 in aleft hand direction results in a. direct one to one ratio of rotation ofthe socket turning the nut, while a right hand movement produces ahigher turning ratio. In each instance the handle I is held stationary.The nut is therefore screwed onto the bolt in a continuous forwarddirection by both forward and backward movements of the handle 6 withthe result that work of any nature requiring the use of nuts or bolts orother attachments is greatly accelerated. This is of particularadvantage in progressive assembly lines of various types of equipmentsuch as automotive, and for use in repair shops for such equipment.

When a nut is to be unscrewed from a bolt it is only necessary to removethe wrench from the socket 40 and reverse it, inserting the socket intothe top end of the wrench as viewed in Fig. 1. This will result in asimilar action as described by turning off the nut with both motions ofthe handle 6. In the event that the wrench is used in close quarters orwhere it is not practical to hold handle I stationary, both handles maybe grasped in one hand and both moved together as shown by the dottedlines in Fig. 2. In this case, however, since the intermediate gears l4and their bearings l5 are also rotated with handle I, the gears l4merely roll around the gear teeth II] when the handles are rotated tothe right. However, due to the rotation of the intermediate gears l4 andthe counter-clockwise rotation of pins I5, ring gear H is moved in thesame direction at an accelerated rate causing the ratchet teeth to slipby pawl 29 at an accelerated rate. When both the handles are rotated tothe left pawl 32 engages ratchet 26 and effects a direct turning actionof socket member 8.

It is well known that with ordinary one-way ratchet wrenches of theconventional type, when a nut is first placed upon a bolt it is veryloose and must be spun down by hand, because the ratchet wrench ifplaced upon it, would have no effect Whatever. This is so because thepawl cannot ride over the ratchet teeth due to the loose nut and the nutwould merely rotate back and forth. The present invention avoids thisdifficulty and is therefore an advantage in for example, inaccessiblelocations which cannot be reached by the hand. The stationary handle Iin this case positively prevents reverse action of the loose nut, andthe handle 6 can turn it down quickly by its back and forth movement.This wrench is also easier to move about from one nut to the next due tothe fact that the operator has two handles with which to manipulate theplacement of the socket.

When the nut being operated upon is tightened by handle 6 as far aspossible, it may be driven home more tightly if the handle 6 is heldfirmly and then handle 1, which had been held stationary, is given athrust in the left hand direction. Thi is possible because of the directconnection getwaeen the handle 6, pawl 32, and socket memer I It will beobvious that the present invention has many other uses from thatillustrated, for example, the principals involved may be utilized inthreading and tapping operations, drilling, boring, offset drill, screwdriver, and various other turning operations. It is therefore to beunderstood that this invention is not to be limited to the exactembodiment disclosed but only to the extent of the scope of the appendedclaims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a ratchet Wrench, a head portion, gear means in said portioncomprising a ring gear and a secondary gear having socket supportingmeans therein, a plurality of planetary gear means between said ringgear and said secondary gear, a stationary handle and a movable handle,pawl and ratchet mechanism interconnecting one of said handles with saidring gear and with said intermediate gear means, said planetary gearmeans being efiective to cause rotary motion of said socket supportingmeans responsive to manual reciprocating motion of said movable handlewhile said stationary handle is restrained, and also when both of saidhandles are reciprocated together, spacing plates between all of saidgears, supporting pins on said stationary handle for said spacingplates, all of said gears and spacing plates being encased in said headportion, said supporting pins being spaced between said first and secondratchet gears and between each of said planetary gears in order toreduce friction against the sides of all of said gears from said spacingplates.

2. In a ratchet wrench, a head portion, a movable handle attached tosaid head portion, a socket receiving member arranged axially in saidhead portion, a first ratchet gear secured to said socket member, astationary handle, a second ratchet gear, separate pawls on said headportion for actuating each of said ratchet gears, and a plurality ofplanetary gear means interconnecting said second ratchet gear and saidsecond ratchet gear whereby a reciprocating movement of said movablehandle, while said stationary handle is held, causes said socket memberto be continuously rotated in a single axial direction,

and also when both of said handles are reciprocated together, spacingplates between all of said gears, supporting pin on said stationaryhandle for said spacing plates, all of said gears and spacing platesbeing encased in said head portion, said supporting pins being spacedbetween said first and second ratchet gears and between each of saidplanetary gears in order to reduce friction against the sides of all ofsaid gears from said spacing plates.

3. In a ratchet wrench, a head portion having a hollow body, a socketsupporting member in said body having a concentric gear thereon, a ringgear arranged concentrically of said socket gear, a plurality ofintermediate gears arranged concentrically between said socket gear andsaid ring gear, a stationary handle having means for attachment to saidintermediate gears extending into said hollow body, spacer platesarranged on opposite sides of all of said gears to hold them in the sameplane, a movable handle attached to said head portion, pawl and ratchetmechanism interconnecting said movable handle with said socket gear,other pawl and ratchet mechanism interconnecting said movable handlewith said ring gear, and a cover plate for said hollow head portionenclosing said mechanism and gears.

MORRIS B. MARSDEN, JR. JAMES H. MARSDEN.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 285,629 Jones Sept. 25, 1883 959,814 Straker May 31, 19101,613,328 Naylor Jan. 4, 1927 1,781,480 Sirmans Nov. 11, 1930 2,542,015Ellison Feb. 20, 1951

